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Sunday, April 3, 2016

To Come....

From the FSSP Roma Facebook page (no, I don't have Facebook)

I recently moved, am still unpacking, and recently drove to Houston to visit my father before his operation. When I have had a moment to check the blogosphere, I have happily been surprised at the proliferation of celebrations of the original Holy Week. I have received a few queries from readers about the "proper" time (again!!!!) of the Vesperal liturgy on Holy Saturday.

Personally, I found Augustine's warning to retain our Lenten sobriety during this celebratory period very helpful, as too much feasting undoes the benefits of the fasting!

For those of us who do use Facebook, the Institut du Bon Pasteur posted to their official page many pictures of the traditional Palm Sunday as well as a 1956-ish version with the blessing at the front in violet and with the door ceremony, of the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified, and of the traditional Vigil and Mass.

Well, they took that down in a jiffy. But just in case they deny they put it up, here's the Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ya5aNPwwEC4J:rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/04/holy-week-notes-on-tiny-but-growing.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Yes. I called them out for implying that only sedevacantists and “independents” used it; the only mention of regularized Catholics were the ICRSS and elderly priests in the 1990s. No mention of Angophones, including the Latin Mass Society and the SSPX, no mention of contemporary English parishes (I know of two which do part of the traditional Holy Week)...

At the local FSSP Tradistan parish, there was Maundy Thursday Tenebrae done the pre-1956 way, with the time of day and the repetition of Ps. 50. That said, it was a fiasco! Unfortunately, it was more of a recording than a liturgical function, since only the choirs of the church sang; the others were discouraged, since the pastor allowed that the service be recorded! With such tendencies as this, it's no wonder the people in general still barely sing at High Masses!

Still, it is a problem that Rorate Caeli officially hasn't any problems with Pius XII's and John XXIII's reforms!

Well, some Rorate bloggers clearly do. But New Catholic does not, and since he swings the biggest stick there, the official blog position is a benign eye.

I think we will continue to see a gradual growth in the number of communities celebrated pre-'55. Ironically, such a thing might be easier to get away with in this pontificate (largely indifferent to liturgical scrupulosity) than a ROTR pontificate like the last one. We may hope this may lead to a formal ad libitum permission for the celebration of the pre-1955 Holy Week, and perhaps even the Vigil of Pentecost.

The only question seriously worth asking is not if we can "get away with" using the older rubrics or what an administrator of the Rorate thinks, but rather if this is moraly acceptable, i.e., if the priest using the older rubrics is not committing a sin and thus endangering his eternal salvation. Some laymen as accomplices, too.

How can it not be morally acceptable? The Pope isn't arbitor of the liturgy, but custodian. He can't forbid venerable rites, which the old Holy Week is part of, even if slimmed down from the impressive medieval ceremonies found in the Sarum and other rites!

The sooner you accept the fact that the liturgy st. Peter celebrated wasn't the one codified in 1570 (hyperbole to prove a point) the sooner you will accept that liturgy was not solely guarded by Popes but also changed by them. Romans wanted to murder st. Gregory over his reforms.

Sorry, but Popes aren't really that powerful, even if they wanted to do a thing like that. It is always the middlemen: the bishops and priests. If they're of the same mindset as the Pope, then of course the reforms goes the same way. But if not, there is strong opposition and the Pope usually folds!

And again, St. Gregory's reforms weren't anything unusual other than adding a few words and rearranging things. I really think it unfair to compare his reform to Trent and later ones!

BTW, I knew all that you told me already, so you don't have to repeat it. Reading "The Banished Heart" was enough, although, as I said, the Popes weren't all powerful by the same measure. They could only change their own liturgy, and if the bishops and priests agree, then it spreads.